Senate OKs Measure To Fund The Government Through September

The Senate voted on Thursday to approve a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund government through September, preventing the risk of a government shutdown.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign the measure, which passed 79 to 18. It includes more than $15 billion in new defense spending and $1.5 billion in money for U.S. border security, ahead of a deadline to keep the government open past Friday.

The spending measure was the result of weeks of bipartisan negotiations where Republicans ultimately backed away from Trump’s demands for money to begin construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Instead, GOP leaders agreed to Democrats demands that the new border-security money comes with strict limitations requiring the Trump administration to use funds only for technology investments and repairs to existing fencing and infrastructure.

The measure also includes about $5 billion in new domestic spending, including $295 million to help Puerto Rico continue making payments to Medicaid, $100 million to combat opioid addiction, and increases in energy and science funding that Trump had proposed cutting.

Republicans say their greatest victory was securing the additional $15 billion in defense money from an off-budget war fund. They have also touted trims and changes to approximately 150 programs as a sign that they were able to secure some of their priorities in the five-months spending agreement.

Among the bipartisan victories in the bill is $407 million in wildfire relief for Western states and a decision to permanently extend a program that provides health-care coverage for coal miners.